A insane prison riot in Mexico led to 52 deaths

Relatives of prisoners demand information about the fire and riot, outside the prison of Topo Chico, in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, 11 February 2016.

“They know how to calm the authorities down by doing things that are pleasing to the authorities”, Father Coogan said, pointing to the way inmate leaders will keep prisons with self-rule clean, maintained and orderly as a way to keep wardens on their side.

First reports said up to 60 people had perished and concerned families of prisoners needed to wait several hours before the amounts were affirmed by Mr Rodriguez.

In one of Mexico’s most violent prison clashes, 44 inmates are killed in Apodaca in the north, thought to be assassinated by the Zetas to aid a jailbreak. After the incident, three top prison officials and 26 guards were accused of helping inmates escape in the confusion.

– The violence came on the eve of Pope Francis’ arrival in Mexico.

At the press conference, Calderon said none of the bodies have been identified yet.

“All this for a robbery, my son was innocent”, a woman cried after seeing her son’s name on the list.

As the violence spread, prisoners set fire to the prison warehouse.

Forces from the federal police, the marines and the army surrounded the prison, the governor said, as relatives of the inmates gathered outside awaiting news.

The fatal fighting broke out in two areas of the Topo Chico prison between supporters of a gang leader known as “Zeta 27” and another group, Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez said.

Nuevo Leon officials also said that a further 12 had been wounded with five of those in a critical condition. Family members related to some of the inmates involved in the Mexico prison riot are demanding answers, wondering about their fate.

“Topo Chico is a… very old prison”.

The state of Mexican prisons has been in the spotlight since the high-profile escape of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman last summer from what was billed as one of the country’s best maximum-security prisons in Altiplano.

Ruth Villanueva, an expert at the governmental National Human Rights Commission, said a year ago that there was a serious crisis at the country’s prisons, with 72 of them overcrowded by more than 20 per cent.